‘Being Maoist is not a crime’: HC upholds 1L fine on police

KOCHI: A good end will not justify bad means, especially when an individual’s right to freedom and privacy are violated, the Kerala HC told the state government and Kerala Police while upholding a single bench’s finding that being Maoist is not a crime.

Declining to interfere with the compensation of Rs 1 lakh ordered by a single bench for illegal detention and house search without a warrant by alleging Maoist link, a division bench of Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar said as the guardian of fundamental rights, the high court reviews the state’s action on the doctrine of proportionality to see whether the restriction on a citizen’s liberty was strictly required by the exigencies of the situation.

The judgment authored by Justice Jayasankaran Nambiar said, “…in view of the primacy that is accorded under our Constitution to a person’s fundamental right to privacy and personal liberty, the action of police in detaining and interrogating the petitioner and thereafter searching his residence, without following the procedure mandated under the Code of Criminal Procedurewas wholly unjustified.”